The Sentence Family is an extraordinary grammar program, and I'm still surprised that I didn't hear about it sooner. This is our 9th year of homeschooling, and over the years I've been consistently obsessed with researching and talking with others about different homeschool curriculum, so for me to have not heard of this FABULOUS program before is surprising to me. EVERYBODY should be talking about "The Sentence Family" when the subject of grammar comes up! It's effective! Plain and simple; it works! And for those of you that are wise with your money- It's cheap! Only $12 from CurrClick!
As the subtitle suggests, it is an "introduction" to grammar, but it is a thorough introduction that creates a good, solid foundation to build upon. Children learn about the four types of sentences, the parts of speech and how to diagram sentences in a fun and engaging way.
Someone recently asked me, "What ages or grades is it for?" Children are all so unique and ready for different things at different times, so I think it all depends on the child. It was created for a 4th grade class, but more importantly, keep in mind that it is an "introduction" and not a complete program.
The program uses story and art to teach grammar. Here are several snapshots of what we've been doing over the last few months:
The Sentence Family is one story, and each lesson is like a new chapter and introduces a new character. So every time you read, you learn about a new member of
The Sentence Family. Afterwards, the children sit at the table and draw the character just as it is drawn in the book. Every detail has a purpose. For example, the king pictured above taps his staff on the ground at the end of each imperative sentence he says. This leaves a mark on the ground which represents a period. Imperative sentences end with a period, but on occasion they end with an exclamation point. You see both a period and an exclamation point represented in the picture.
By the way, the directions in the book suggest using 12" X 18", heavy paper. It's easier for the children to draw big pictures, and the heavier the paper the better because it won't tear easily.
The program is color coded! A few times throughout the program, children are asked to underline words in sentences. Each part of speech has it's own color. It starts out simple. Nouns are blue and verbs are red. As the other parts of speech are added, children will learn that adjectives are green and adverbs are orange, and this is all tied into the storyline.
Here you meet Preposition (purple) and see Noun (blue) and Verb (red). When you read the story, you will learn why Verb's hat is falling off, why Noun is leaning against the tree and why Preposition is pointing to Noun! It's all very interesting!
We did all of our diagramming on the dry erase board. I believe this was less intimidating and more fun than doing it on paper. We diagrammed the first sentence together, and then the children took turns diagramming the rest of the sentences.
The program also teaches how to diagram prepositional phrases, and ends with diagramming interjections!
I enjoyed reading the story of
The Sentence Family with my children and spending time with them as they drew their fabulous pictures! It was a wonderful experience, and I'm going to miss it all. I loved it so much I even turned their collection of drawings into books as a special keepsake. We've talked a few times about how they need to come out with a Part 2!
Click on this link if you're interested in learning more about
The Sentence Family from the school that created it:
St. Michael's Orthodox School
Click on this link if you'd like to purchase it as an ebook:
CurrClick
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